The 2022 World Cup have come and gone, returning Argentina to the summit of world football and fortifying Lionel Messi’s ‘GOAT’ title claims.
History was made and records were broken in Qatar.
This was the first FIFA World Cup to be hosted in the Middle East and the first to be played in November and December.
Qatar has a population of less than 2.9 million people, its stadiums are within 35 -mile radius. The World Cup was organised in 8 football stadiums, seven of them newly built.
Gianni Infantino declared the Qatar 2022 World Cup “the best ever.”
The game started on 20th November with a match between host Qatar and Ecuador. A total of 32 teams participated in the tournament and 64 matches were played.
Facts about Qatar 2022
Goals: 172 (a new record)
Stadium attendances: 3.4 million spectators
Fan Festival attendances: 1.8 million visitors
Volunteers: 20,000 from 150 different nations (selected from a record 420,000 applications).
Medalists
Champions: Argentina
Runners-up: France
Third place: Croatia
The 2022 FIFA World Cup final has a total prize pool of $72 million. The winner will receive $42 million, while the runner-up will take home $30 million.
Argentina took home the crown despite losing their opening match of the tournament to Saudi Arabia.
Morocco became the first African team to reach the World Cup semi-finals after 88 years. Egypt was the first African country to play in World Cup in 1934. It took another 36 years for Africa to be represented again in the game through Morocco.
In Qatar, Morocco defeated world number 2, Belgium in the group stage. It went on to eliminate Spain in the round of 16 and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the quarter finals. They were however beaten by France in the semi-finals and Croatia in the battle for bronze.
Japan finished top of Group E, which had four-time champions Germany and 21st-century titans Spain.
Japan also became only the third team in World Cup history, and the first since West Germany in 1970, to win two separate games in which they had been trailing at half-time.
Award winners
- adidas Golden Ball: Lionel Messi (ARG)
- adidas Golden Boot: Kylian Mbappe (FRA)
- adidas Golden Glove: Emiliano Martinez (ARG)
- Best Young Player: Enzo Fernandez (ARG)
- Silver Ball Award – Kylian Mbappe
- Bronze Ball Award- Luka Modric (Croatia)
- Silver Boot Award- Lionel Messi
- Bronze Boot Award- Olivier Giroud
Individual achievements
Lionel Messi: He led his country to World Cup victory after 36 years. The 35-year also collected the Golden Ball and Silver Boot in the process. He scored 7 goals with 3 assists in tournament.
Did you know? Diego Maradona and Messi both made their Argentina debuts against Hungary, coming off the bench in the 62nd and 63rd minutes respectively.
Kylian Mbappe: He scored 8 goals with 2 assists in the Qatar World Cup. The highest-scoring World Cup by any individual player since Ronaldo emerged with an identical haul from the 2002 edition. Mbappe also became the first to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in 1966 and also became just the fifth player in World Cup history to score in separate finals.
Lionel Scaloni: The 44-years old Argentinian became the youngest coach since fellow countryman Cesar Luis Menotti – who was 39 in 1978 – to win the World Cup.
Yassine Bounou: The Morocco hero became the first African goalkeeper to record three clean sheets in a single World Cup edition.
Neymar: He equalled Pele’s 77-goal haul to become A Seleção’s joint-record scorer.
Goncalo Ramos: The Portuguese rising star became the first player to score a hat-trick on his maiden World Cup start since Miroslav Klose in 2002. He was also responsible for the first treble in the knockout stage since Tomas Skuhravy at Italia ‘90.
Harry Kane: With his 52nd and 53rd international goals, the England captain moved alongside Wayne Rooney as the Three Lions’ all-time record scorer.
FIFA World Cup 2022 prize money
- Winner (Argentina): $42 million
- Runner-up (France): $30 million
- 3rd (Croatia): $27 million
- 4th (Morocco): $25 million
- Quarter-finalists: $17 million
- Group stage teams: $13 million
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
